


A Mother's Daughter

by memymo



Series: The Echizens [5]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family, Fluff, Gen, Genderswap, With surprise appearance from Atobe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1419108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memymo/pseuds/memymo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Ryoma is a girl, and things are quite different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mother's Daughter

"Congratulations, it’s a healthy b-girl…"

Well, they didn’t see that coming. Unlike Nanjiroh, however, Rinko kept the thought to herself as she cooed at her daughter while he threw a little tantrum around the hospital.

"NOW WE WILL HAVE TO SPEND THE NEXT TEN MONTHS TO COME UP WITH A NEW NAME FOR HER BECAUSE SOMEONE DIDN’T SEE THAT SHE WAS A SHE!!!!!!!!!"

"Dear, I don’t think there is anything wrong with naming a girl Ryoma. She even agreed, don’t you see?"

Ryoma was sleeping, but there was a hint of a smile on her little face, or what appeared to be a smile. It was too early to tell, although the sight of her face immediately put all Nanjiroh’s protests to rest. That, or the way Rinko discreetly pinched him under the cover, she couldn’t quite decide.

-

Ryoma, she decided, was a lovely baby.

She always made soft gurgle noises and little happy sounds when Rinko talked her, whether about the world or about the adventures of Winnie the Pooh. She never protested much, always does what Rinko asked her to, although she could be too curious for her own sake (Rinko’s wardrobe after she had a bit of an adventure in it was the evidence for that). And when she sat in Rinko’s lap, her eyes felt as if she knew the secret to the happiness in the world.

Nanjiroh, however, decided that she was the worst baby ever.

Whenever he asked her for something, she generally bit him and pee on him afterwards for good measures. She loved to chew on his hair too, despite his loud protests. If the twinkling in eyes was anything to go by, she was pretty sure Ryoma saw Nanjiroh as an oversized, animated play toy.

Rinko found the entire situation too amusing. She kept the thought to herself, rather than sharing with Nanjiroh, who was once again find himself armful of Ryoma and her full diaper, as she chattered away incoherently.

-

When Ryoma was three, she managed to wrestle a racket and try to hit a tennis ball with it. It did not work out well, and the her dress took the worst of it.

Nanjiroh looked positively gleeful.

Rinko wondered if it was time to switch her daughter’s clothes to something that will withstand pressure better. 

In the end, she decided against it, because Ryoma looked adorable and sweet in her little white and blue dresses, even if she always got dirt on them after playing with Nanjiroh, or tear and mud from when she spent the afternoon exploring their backyard under the ‘strict’ supervision of her father, who busied himself with the latest copy of those magazines he so loved.

The next time she cleaned the house, his secret room was stripped of all its content.

-

Ryoma was five when she cut her hair by herself, the jagged and spiky end replacing the soft silky strands that run long past her waist.

Nanjiroh cried and locked himself in his secret room.

Rinko smiled, ruffled her hair and took her out to the hairdresser in order to fix it. She couldn’t stay still for one moment and managed to cause enough damages that Rinko think they would never be let in again, not to mention the embarrassment she put every patron through as they waddled up to her and commented how much prettier she would look with her long her.

Rinko never felt prouder, and she let her known when she took her out for ice-cream and a spree in the bookshops.

Nanjiroh was still crying that night when they came back, arms heavy with all the bags.

He didn’t stop until two weeks later, until Ryoma told him if he didn’t, she would never play tennis with him again.

-

She could see so clearly still, her little girl curling herself up in her lap, listening attentively to her reading whatever she had at the time, falling asleep, her eyelashes fluttering softly. 

Once upon a time, she could lifted her daughter up and she could fit in the crook of her arms.

Once of upon a time, she would be greet by a bundle of energy and dirt after a tiring workday, listening to Ryoma babbling about her newest discovery or how she came very closed to beating the oyaji this time, or secretly told her that she had let Karupin loosed in Nanjiroh’s room and let him had a bit of fun.

Once upon a time, quiet mornings and warm afternoons were just for her and Ryoma, silence and peaceful, away from everything. Then, there only them in this world, as they browsed the little run-down shop in the alleyway, or treat themselves to chocolate tart that melted on the tongue.

Once upon a time, Rinko used to have Ryoma all to herself. Her little girl, always her, more than Nanjiroh realised. Her little girl who turned to her for comfort and protection, for advices and stories - for everything.

Nowadays, there were too many people she had to share Ryoma with.

Whether it was Karupin or Nanjiroh, or her entire tennis club (she was still quite not sure how Nanjiroh managed to get her into a boy’s tennis club, but she didn’t dare to ask), might as well everyone she had played with for that matter (there was this purple-haired boy who, once in a while, would dropped by and filled the house with flowers and chocolates that Ryoma did not like and get them thrown in his face. Didn’t stop him though, because he kept coming back. Rinko wondered if she should told him what kind of things Ryoma liked, and realised that Ryoma was her little girl). Too many people, and sometimes Rinko felt as if Ryoma was no longer the little girl who followed her around and swam in her dresses, clumsily walking in her heels because she wanted to grow up and “be mummy”.

But, when time stopped and no one noticed, and Ryoma - gangly and awkward in the beginning of her puberty - crawled up on the couch next to her and told her about this boy who was very good at tennis, Rinko smiled and scolded herself for being silly, because no matter what, Ryoma would always be her little her, from that first moment she held her in her arms and discovered she was in fact, a girl


End file.
